Burgess hurting: Sophomore Tiffany Burgess of Birmingham...

Burgess hurting: Sophomore Tiffany Burgess of Birmingham won her second consecutive City Section title in the 1,600 meters last Thursday. But a sore hip that bothered her then has worsened and she’s spent much of this week working out in the school’s pool in preparation for the state championships, which begin Friday at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.

“She’s hurting,” Birmingham Coach Scott King said. “She really can’t run without limping.”

Despite the injury, King said there’s no chance that Burgess will withdraw from the state meet after running a personal best of 5 minutes 8.80 seconds in the City finals.

Smith back: Sophomore Tiffany Smith of Taft, who didn’t run on the Toreadors’ 1,600-meter relay team for the past few meets because she was recovering from a strained hamstring, is expected to replace freshman Deneeka Torrey when the Toreadors compete in a qualifying heat of the state championships Friday.

Torrey will continue to run the first leg on Taft’s 400 relay team that won the City Section title last week with a school-record time of 46.67, but Coach Mel Hein said the addition of Smith will make the Toreadors stronger in the 1,600 relay.

“She’s only at about 90%,” Hein said of Smith. “But even at 90%, we figure she can run a 56 or a 57-second relay leg and that beats a 62.”

Sixty-two seconds was Torrey’s split on the anchor leg of the City finals, where she got out well, but struggled in the homestretch and was unable to hold off Dorsey’s Jacqueline Jackson.